Celtic look set to land a talented Premier League youngster in Landon Emenalo as they look to add much-needed depth on the left side of their defence. The Bhoys have less than two weeks to beat the deadline, still needing at least three new signings, if not four.
The quality of Celtic's signings this summer has been very good, as evidenced by their fine start to the season, which has involved four straight wins across all competitions, including a commanding home leg win in their Champions League qualifier with LASK on Wednesday night.
But the speed of their business has been poor, and the result is parts of the squad being held together with duct tape.
Celtic have no senior back-up to goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo, no senior back-up to Kieran Tierney at left-back, with centre-back Liam Scales covering, and they had to play two midfielders out of position on Wednesday to cover the hole in the holding midfield role left by Arne Engels.
The Bhoys may be able to get hold of that for now, but they know it is not realistic over the course of a long season that is now likely to include Champions League football. The gaps simply have to be addressed, and it looks as though the Hoops are on their way to addressing one of them.
Celtic expecting to sign left-back
According to Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph, Celtic are closing in on a deal to sign Chelsea defender Emenalo.
He posted on X: "UPDATE: Celtic are close to agreeing a deal for Chelsea left-back Landon Emenalo. It’s understood the 18-year-old is expected to join on a straight season-long loan deal. Emenalo picked up a knock in training with and has been allowed to recover, before finalising the paperwork on the move."
Emenalo is an 18-year-old left-back who is an England under-19s international, though he has flicked between the England and USA youth groups, having been born in Tucson, Arizona. The youngster is the son of former Nigeria international left-back Michael Emenalo, who also spent time on Chelsea's coaching staff at one stage.
The youngster started his youth career at Chelsea, moved to AS Monaco for two years and was then re-signed by the Blues, so it's clear the West London giants think a lot of him. Emenalo was a regular for their Premier League 2 side - which is the under-21s - last season.
It's unclear at this stage whether Celtic will also add more senior depth at left-back or push on with Tierney, Emenalo and the extra cover of Scales, who can play on the left side.
Add us as a preferred source on Google